INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
July, 1931
of dollars, not only in lower breakages, but also in substantial lessening of freight charges. That humorous censor, Lije, once defined a gentleman as one who could play the saxophone, hut wouldn’t. Now we do not know whether the Doctor can play t h a t most unmusical piece of musicality, but we do know that if he could he wouldn’t. Behind his back we speak of him, and most respectfully, as a
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“good fellow.” Long may this venerable scholar and gentleman of the old school serve as our dean, full of wit and wisdom and genuinely and generously venerated by all his admiring colleagues-”The Grand Old Man” of the Pittsburgh Section of the SOCIETY. AMERICAN CHEMIC~L CXWLESSKBELE PALMER
AMERICAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES ~
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Merrimac Chemical Company A New England Contribution to the Chemical Industry
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URING the colonial period some industrial progress took place in New England, but operations were on a small scale and primitive methods employed. At the time of the Revolution there were several paper mills in Massachusetts, the product, of course. being handmade; glass making was a wellestablished industry; and several small plants were engaged in the making of iron fromnativeores. Themanufacture of textilees,however, still remained a domestic proposition and “homespun” was the order of the day. Long prior to the Revolutionary War the importance of potash in soap making and for other purposes was recognized, a n d t h e iiirst a t t e m p t s to manufacture c h e m i c a l s on a large scale were m a d e a t Leominster, Mass, by Celeb Wilder, who introduced various improvements in the method of making potash and devcloped a process for recovery of p e a r l ash. Incidentally, t h e erection of the huge kettle used in these o p e r a t i p n s was s n Robert 8 . Eaton event of considerable i m p o r tance, and the casting itself was deemcd a masterpiece of foundry work. In order that information concerning these improvements might be distributed throughout t h r Commonwealth, in 1787 a petition was presented to the Gencral Court by Mr. Wilder and his associate, Mr. Frobisher, asking that spccial provisions be made by the State to aid in aceomptisliing this. The matter was deemed of such importance that the following action was taken by the Legislature on March 7, 1787:
ReroEced, that Richard Cranch, Esq., Mr. Clark and Mr. Uowdoin be a committee who are empowered (in the Recess of the General Court) to rcceive from the said Williain Frobisher and Caleb Wilder, or from either of thcm, such descriptions, in writing, of their respective methods and processes for making and assayins patashes and pearl-ashes, as they, or either of them, t o he made~publick; and if the said processes, shall xe&;t or cithcr of them, shall appear to the said committce, on examination. to contain usriul and imaortant immovements in that rnaiuiacture, they arc hereby &powred .and directed forthwith to cause the same, or such parts thereof as shall appear to them will be usdul, as aforesaid, t o be published in Pamphlets, and that sucb a number of thcm he printed, at the expcnse of government, as will be suficieiit to furnish the clerk of each Town and Plantation in this Commonwealth, with one oi them, and the secretary is hereby directed, in case of such a publica-
tion, to cause the said Pamphlets t o be forthwith sent t u the several Towns and Plantations accordingly. We had no Patent Office at this time, and it is interesting to note that the first patent issued in the United States, dated July 31, 1790, was one for “making pot and pearl-ashes.” Broadly speaking, however, the need for chemicals in New England Came with the establishment of the textile iitdustry in the early part of the last century. Doriilg that period cottor, and elsewhere, and woolen mills were crected at Lowell, I~wrence, and these required superintendents. dyers, bleachers. and othfr skilled operatives, who for the most part were brought to this country from England and Scotland. At that time coal-tar dyes were unknown, and indigo, logwood. and vegetable dyes were employed in the dyeing of textiles. Soon a demand sprat~gup for sulfuric acid, Glauber salt, blue vitriol. and some other chemicals, and to meet this situation several small cliemical plants were crected, which , m e a n t i m e , have passed out of existence. One of these was built by thc T a l b o t s i n 1840, at North Billerica near Lowell, and continued to function until it was absorbed by the M e r r i m a c Cliemical Company a few years ago. At about this time several textile mills were making their own sulfuric acid, and many years ago M e r r i m a c Chemical Company purchased and dismantled B set of chambers, formerly in use a t one of the large m i l l s i n Lowcll. T h e s e c h a m b e r s were constructed by an Alsatian mgineer, who erected several sets in Courlesy Bl~nk-SLoN~r, Ina this country about the middle Salmon W. Wilder of the last century. The business of the Merrimac Chemical Company dates from 1853, when Robert Eaton began operations on a small scale a t what is now the Woburn works of the company. For some time this little plant was known as the Woburn Chemical Works. As may be imagined, the output was small and the methods of manufacture somewhat primitive; nevertheless, from this heginning has resulted the company’s present establishmcnt a t Woburn, which has been in continuous operation for more than seventy-five years. As time wcnt on, business iiiueased to such a degree that plant extension becamp necessar)., and Mr. Eaton found it difficult to look after the manufacture and marketing oi the
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Woburn Works. Mrrrimac Chemical Company.
W C I I U W Iuutpiii. ~ Accordingly, he intcrcstcd several of his irioids, arid io 1x63 the business was incorporatd as the Mcrri mac Chemical Company. Eaton himself was onc of the incorimrators aid continued to take an activc part in tlie ompairv'i; aBiiiis until his retircement in 1872. Awx3ated with Mr. Eaton a t the time oi the incorporation, !viis J o h n \ V Caiidlcr, oi the firm of Candlci, Fostcm & Company d Boston who hecame the first pnsidcnt of thc c ~ m p ~ n y111 . 1Xli5 I'agr Icaton, Jr., vas elected a director. and a lew years Iatcr Charlcs 0 . Foster jiiiiicd the hoard An initid dividend was drciarril in IXti5, and the compaiiy has experieirccd the rather liniisual rccoid of uriintcrrojited annwal dividcnd payments throughout its corporate esisteuce. For a fcw ycars plant opciatirnis wcrc supervised by M r . Eaton. and the commercial end of the business carried on hy Xtmrs. Candler atid Poster, but during tlie period following t k Civil W a r , New England industries expaitded atid the demand for chemicals became such that additional capital was required for plnnt cxtcnsion and increasing business. To mect this situation tiic capital stick WAS increased, and in I871 C. T.Howard was
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elected txasurer, aiid A . 1'. Iluward a director, aiid iatcr wa\ made superiiitendent, to succeed X r . Raton; l h t b bcld &CP ior more than twenty-live years. In t h e saint. ycar Charlci McBuriiey hecanic a director, and i n 1x77 Iiartliold Scblesiugcr. iormeily of thc firm of Naylor & Compaiiy, New York, who had a large frilancial interest iii the concern, was also made n director, Subscqucntly, in 1XN4, Mr. Schlcsinger was elected president of tlie company, and held t h i s office until Iris dvath in 1900. During the period from 1871 to l X ! B the managetncnt i i i t i n company was in the hands of A . .'i Howard, superintendent. and C. T. Howard, treasurer, and in I900 the former was elected vice prcsident, and remnined in ofice until his death in 1902. In 1889 Henry Howard mtcred the company's service as a chemist. After thc dcath of A. P. Howard, hc was appointed superiiiteiidcnt; later, in 1905, lie was elected vice president, and was very active izz the company's affairs until his retirrmeot iii 1920. In 1897 Sallnuii W. Wilder, who after his graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1891. was assaciated with U'm. A. Russell & Son, Roston, joined the company
I'reseof Wohurn Plant, Merrirnac Chrrnical Company
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arid in 1899 was rnadc mairager. I n 1'303 hc became treasurer. and in IOOG war elected president of tlie company, a position he occupied until 1928, when he was chosen chairman of the board of directors. Several years alter the dcath of Barthold Schlcsinger, who had bieir the largest stockholder in the Merrimac Chemicnl Company. Mr. Wilder entered into ucgotiatioiis with the executors of his estate and, iii conjunction with Mr. William A. Russell of Boston. acqnired the Schlesinger holdings. In I800 Richard S. Russell and Dudley !'. Rogers, of Wm. A. Russell & Brother, were electrd directors of tlit company, and in 1814 The Russell Company were appointed general maiiagtm, acting in a supervisory capacity. In 1872 the capital stock of the Merrimac Chemical Conipaiiy was $100,000, and the C O ~ C V I Iwas ~ doing a fair volume of business, its more imijurtant products including sulfuric acid, muriatic acid, nitric acid, soda ash, Glauber salt, salt cake. and tiii crystals. Thc tonnage of that period s e e m very small when compared with tlic i,reseiit output, but as the years p:~sscdand chemicals camc to play a inoze important role in our industrial development, new products were added and the company's business steadily in^ creased. In 1886 the manufactiire of alum vas begun. and this was followed shortly afterward by sulfate of aliimina. Nitrate ,if iron and bisulfite of soda were first produced in 1887, and silicatc of soda in 1840. A year later Merrimac carbonizer (aluminuni chloride) was introduced in this country, and in 1896 Meriimac began the manufacture of hydrate of aluminum by the Bayer process. the American rights to which were awned hy tlie com~ pany. In l X < B thc hlerrimnc Chemical Company acquired thc business arid works of William H. Swift 8r Company of East Boston, maniifacturers of acetic acid, colors, iiisrcticides. aild yariouc other products. I n rliic course the lmmifacturing q x r a tioiis of the Swift Dcimrtmciit wcre traiisferred to Wohum. S m r l y all of the Swift Company staff wwc retained by Mcrrimac, ;and sonic of thpm arc today in active icrviec with the company. A s early LIS 1x83 the question of using pyrites instead of d f o r for making sidiuric acid was givm careful coiisiderati:ui. ;,od in 1888 the company was succrssiul iii employing dorncstic :rrsmic-frce ore mined i n M u s s a c h u s c t t ~ . In tlic hrginiiiiig lump pyrites were used almost entirely, hit witli tile improvement in mechanical fumaccs thc use of fiiics l~ccamcmore gcneral. Xlerrimac Chcmicd Company was among the first to enter this ticld, and for many ycars imported largc quantitics of fines ore. chiefly from Spain. The development of the contact pro for making sulfuric acid WL- followed closdy by Xrriimac, and alter careful investigation negotiations w ~ r ecntcrrd into with thc Trntclewsche Chemical Works (a Russii*n company). as a icsnlt uf which the Alerrimac Chemical Company securrd rights that rnablrd them to erect and operate a plant under the Teiitclcwsche patents.
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bicrrimac's l i r s t coutrct unit w s c o r n p k t d in 1907 iiud has bwu
in succcssful operation ever since. With the lrrcaking out of the war in 1914, tlir dinrand for chemical products increased rapidly aiid sooii the capacities of cxistiug plants were taxed to the limit. In It115 Merrimac Chrmical Company, in coiiprration with the N r w finglaild Gas & Cukc Company, bcgm the crectioii of B plant for the mamlfacture of phetiul, picric acid, atid trinitrotoluene, and in spite 01 many cmstruction difficulties the plant was completed and in production thc following year. Throughout the wr ' period this plant was operated at capacity. and when the armistice was signed phcnol and picric acid wem bcing manufactured on a Parge ?#XI
